Early in my career as a school superintendent I received a phone call from a teacher on New Years Day. She was calling to let me know that she was quitting her job and would not be returning to her village school for the second semester-the Christmas break was scheduled to end two days later. At the time, I was incensed that she was abandoning her students. But today, I am more resigned to the fact that the staffing of schools is a target that never stops moving. Knowing that students respond well to stability, each year we hope that a school’s staffing will not change during the year or for the following year. But, in reality we know that this is unlikely to be the case.
We are just about finished with our hiring process for the coming year. In August the district will have 62 new teachers, 9 new principals and 6 new specialists. This level of turnover (about 12%) is about average for what we experience each year. On the support side the percent change of staff will be even lower. When we hire a new teacher or support person, our hope is that they will be KPBSD employees for a long time. I send thanks to all of our staff who are retiring or moving on. Let’s do all that we can to welcome their replacements in a way that will help them to think in terms of staying with KPBSD for a while.
Personnel, A Moving Target
Early in my career as a school superintendent I received a phone call from a teacher on New Years Day. She was calling to let me know that she was quitting her job and would not be returning to her village school for the second semester-the Christmas break was scheduled to end two days later. At the time, I was incensed that she was abandoning her students. But today, I am more resigned to the fact that the staffing of schools is a target that never stops moving. Knowing that students respond well to stability, each year we hope that a school’s staffing will not change during the year or for the following year. But, in reality we know that this is unlikely to be the case.
We are just about finished with our hiring process for the coming year. In August the district will have 62 new teachers, 9 new principals and 6 new specialists. This level of turnover (about 12%) is about average for what we experience each year. On the support side the percent change of staff will be even lower. When we hire a new teacher or support person, our hope is that they will be KPBSD employees for a long time. I send thanks to all of our staff who are retiring or moving on. Let’s do all that we can to welcome their replacements in a way that will help them to think in terms of staying with KPBSD for a while.